We were pleased to have back from his travels, Alan Ainsworth, deputy Chair, who wished us all a happy new year, welcomed newcomers and introduced R. Cleveland Aaron for his second visit to CoL&CPS. This time, Cleveland was following up on the excellent session from Greg Lambert on using flash, with a hands-on demonstration of some of his own ways of working with additional light sources. As so often happens with such events, there was not enough time for everything, so we never did get to know what Cleveland intended with the strings of fairy lights displayed on the table, but instead, he used just one lamp with honeycomb and greaseproof paper to discuss diffusion and the speed of light! Apart from an interesting discussion about the physics involved, we were able to see the effects of modifying artificial light sources, using shutter speeds to control the results and spot metering - all designed to get the required amount of contrast and minimise LightRoom processing. Several members experimented taking shots of a jar of sea shells and we all appreciated how much equipment Cleveland had brought to show us and how passionate he is about working with light in his photography.The two shots below by Ilya demonstrate how a fast shutter speed (1/250 sec) cuts out all ambient light, while a slower shutter speed (1/8 sec), with all other settings unchanged (ISO 200, f/4.5), allows ambient light in the background.Now we need to play around for ourselves with alternative light sources and bring the results to the light-themed competition on February 3rd!